Encyclopedia of Microtonal Music Theory

mu / MIDI-unit

[Joe Monzo]

In July 2003, Aaron Hunt suggested the general name 'Mu' for 'MIDI unit', and suggested that Greek prefixes be used to specify the number of bits resulting in the unit. Prefixes were offered and agreed upon by Aaron, Joe Monzo, Gene Ward Smith and John Chalmers.

The unit which called a 14mu (or "tetradekamu") is specified in the MIDI spec (1983) as the smallest increment available for the pitch-bend controller. Aaron Hunt prefers to call this unit simply "mu", whereas Monzo prefers to reserve "mu" for the general meaning of the term covering the whole family of different units.

Below is a table showing the number of bits resolution, the number of MIDI-units per semitone, the corresponding EDO, the approximate ratio of the MIDI-unit, and the cents-value of the interval. ("mu/ST" means "MIDI-units per semitone")